Hundreds Of Products Ready Today. Dispatch/Collection Sparco GT vs Cobra Le Mans: The Two Retro Recliners Side By Side
Side by side, in the showroom
Two retro recliners, similar money, and from a product photo on a white background they can look like the same idea twice. They are not. So we put a Sparco GT and a Cobra Le Mans next to each other in the showroom and photographed them from every angle that matters, then laid the published dimensions and the bolt patterns underneath so you can see where the differences come from.
If you already know which car it is going in, our GT or Le Mans for a classic car post is the decision written down. This one is about what the two seats actually are, side by side.
- Sparco GT: 860mm tall to the headrest, 500mm across the shoulders, 550mm across the base, 570mm deep
- Cobra Le Mans: 820mm tall, 540mm wide, 620mm deep, 13.4kg
- The Sparco stands 40mm taller and sits on a flatter base; the Cobra runs 50mm deeper and holds you higher up the ribs
- Sparco is a factory trim, Sky vinyl with microfibre or houndstooth centres; Cobra is hand trimmed in the UK to whatever you order
- Base patterns are different: Sparco 345mm x 271mm, Cobra 291mm x 330mm, so frames and sliders are one or the other
- From £421.58 for the GT and £515.83 for the Le Mans, per seat
Why we put them next to each other
The question comes up across the counter most weeks, usually from someone building a car from the seventies or eighties who wants a seat that looks like it belongs there but is built in this century. Both of these are exactly that. The Sparco GT is Sparco’s retro recliner, launched in 2020 on a steel tube frame with a recline lever on each side. The Cobra Le Mans is a shape Cobra have made in Telford for decades, hand trimmed to order, with an infinite recline on both sides and a backrest that tips forward for the back seats.
Garreth and Cameron put them in different cars for different reasons, and the reasons are all visible once the two are in the same room. So here they are, in the same room.
Height and profile
This is the photograph that settles most of the arguments. The Sparco is the taller seat by 40mm to the top of the headrest, and it carries that height in a long, gently curved backrest that narrows towards the shoulders. The Cobra is shorter but deeper, 620mm front to back against 570mm, and its backrest is broader and squarer all the way up. Under the cushions, the Sparco base is a flat slab; the Cobra base has more shape to it and a suspension diaphragm inside the frame, which is part of why it feels softer when you sit down.
Look at the two recline mechanisms in the same shot. The Sparco uses a lever on each side, so you pull it and lean. The Cobra uses a round knob on each side, which winds the backrest to any angle you like and holds it there. Neither is better; the lever is quicker, the knob is finer.
Both seats on one floor line, to scale from the published figures. The Sparco stands 40mm taller at the headrest; the Cobra runs 50mm deeper front to back. The photograph above shows the same thing in metal and foam.
The numbers
Sparco publish the GT figures on a dimension drawing and we have used those. The Cobra figures are the ones on our Le Mans listings, which Cobra supply. Sparco do not publish a weight for the GT, so we have not invented one.
| Sparco GT | Cobra Le Mans | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall height, to headrest | 860mm | 820mm |
| Width across the shoulders | 500mm | 540mm |
| Width across the base | 550mm | 540mm |
| Depth, front to back | 570mm | 620mm |
| Weight | Not published | 13.4kg |
| Frame | Steel tube | Steel tube on a base suspension diaphragm |
| Recline | Lever, both sides | Infinite winder, both sides, tip forward backrest |
| Headrest | Removable, height adjustable, on posts | On posts, integral shoulder wings |
| Outer trim | Sky vinyl | Vinyl, leather or fabric, to order |
| Centre trim | Microfibre, or houndstooth on the Edition | Spacer fabric, corduroy, basketweave, or to order |
| Base bolt pattern | 345mm x 271mm | 291mm x 330mm |
| Harness | 4 point compatible | 4 point compatible |
| Waist | 32in to 38in | 32in to 38in |
| Price, per seat | From £421.58, Houndstooth Edition £568.42 | From £515.83, Heritage £540.83 |
Ex VAT. Sparco figures from Sparco’s own drawing; Cobra figures from our listings, as supplied by Cobra. Neither seat is sold with a frame or a slider.
Styling, up close
Two different ideas of retro. The Sparco is the seventies Italian version: a flat base, a slim backrest, and the pattern doing the talking. On the Houndstooth Edition the centre panels are a proper black and white houndstooth cloth edged in Sky vinyl, and it reads as a period seat from three cars away. The bolsters are there but they are shallow, because the GT was designed for what Sparco call sport comfort, a seat you climb in and out of all day.
The Cobra is the British club racer’s version. The bolsters are taller and wrap further round you, the shoulder is squared off, and the centre panel is a plain spacer fabric with the Cobra name embroidered on it. Where the Sparco is one factory specification, every Le Mans is trimmed by hand in Telford to the colours and materials you choose, which is why the Heritage version and the Tartan Edition exist and why we can quote you a two-colour leather one if that is what the car wants.
The headrests tell the same story from the top. Sparco’s is a rounded pad on two posts above a backrest that has already narrowed to 500mm, so your shoulders sit clear of it. Cobra’s is wider and sits between two shoulder wings, so the bolstering carries on right up to the headrest and the seat holds you higher up the ribs. On a long motorway run the Sparco is the more relaxed of the two; on a B road the Cobra holds you better.
Pick the Sparco GT if
You want the seventies look, a flatter seat that is easy to get in and out of, a factory trim you can order today, and the lower price. The Houndstooth Edition is the one that turns heads.
Pick the Cobra Le Mans if
You want more hold through the bolsters, a seat trimmed to your own colours and materials, the tip forward backrest for the rear seats, and the lower overall height in a car with a low roof.
Either way
Both are base mount recliners that take a 4 point harness and keep your standard belt, and both need a frame for the car and a slider between the two, bought separately.
Bolt patterns and frames
Both seats bolt down through four holes in the base, and this is the one place they are genuinely incompatible. The Sparco uses the 345mm x 271mm pattern that Sparco and OMP share; the Cobra uses Cobra’s own 291mm x 330mm. Drawn to the same scale it is obvious why a frame or slider made for one will not take the other.
The two base patterns to one scale. The Sparco rectangle is 54mm wider across the car and 59mm shorter front to back than the Cobra one, so every frame and every slider is one or the other, never both.
What that means when you come to fit them:
Sparco GT: the 345 x 271 routes
A Sparco direct fit subframe for the car, of which we list more than 150, or an OMP subframe, which carries the same pattern plus the Recaro one. On cars with neither, a flat Planted Technology bracket takes a 345 runner. The slider is the Sparco Seat Sliding Runner Kit at £34.95.
Cobra Le Mans: the 291 x 330 routes
A Cobra direct fit subframe for the car, of which we list around 140, or a flat Planted bracket with Cobra runners on top. The slider is the Cobra Premium Sliding Runners at £70, and Cobra also do tailored frames that include the runner for some cars.
The slider is a third product
A direct fit subframe bolts to the floor. The slider sits between it and the seat and is bought separately, so a base mount build is seat plus frame plus slider, or the seat will not move.
The two seats, and the versions
The plain GT in black cloth, the Houndstooth Edition photographed here, the standard Le Mans with its trim menu, and the Le Mans Heritage with the wider menu. Cobra also do the Le Mans with armrests, in a Tartan Edition, and in a Carbon Edition; Sparco do the GT as a pair listing at a saving. The full houndstooth story, across every brand that offers it, is in our houndstooth trim guide.
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Common questions
Which one sits lower in the car?
On the same frame the Cobra, by about the 40mm difference in overall height, because both are base mount recliners and neither gets you lower than the frame and slider allow. If a low roof is the problem, that 40mm can be the difference, and it is worth sitting in both.
Are the bolt patterns really not interchangeable?
Correct. 345mm x 271mm and 291mm x 330mm share no hole, so a Sparco frame or slider will not take the Le Mans and a Cobra one will not take the GT. A flat universal bracket with the right runner on top is the only thing that takes either.
Can I have the Sparco in a colour other than black?
The GT is a factory trim: black cloth, or the Houndstooth Edition. The Cobra is the one that is trimmed to order, so if colour is the point, that is where to look.
Do either of them tip forward for the back seats?
The Cobra does; the backrest tips forward on its recline mechanism. The Sparco reclines but does not tip, so in a three door car with passengers in the back that matters.
Which one is heavier?
The Cobra is 13.4kg per seat. Sparco do not publish a weight for the GT and we would sooner say that than guess.
Which one would you have?
Cameron would put the Sparco in a seventies Italian or German car and the Cobra in a British one, and he is only half joking. Garreth’s answer is to sit in both, because the flat Sparco base and the shaped Cobra base feel different in the first ten seconds and that usually decides it.
Both seats are on the showroom floor next to each other, which is the only honest way to choose between two recliners. If you cannot get to us, tell Cameron the car and which of the two you are leaning towards on 0115 9893488 and he will confirm the frame and slider route before you order. If it is a Le Mans, Garreth will talk you through the trim menu, because that is the bit people enjoy.